Milwaukee Road EMD SD40-2 No. 186 sits alongside the enginehouse at the railroad’s locomotive facility at Bensenville, Illinois, on February 7, 1987.
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Milwaukee Road EMD SD40-2 No. 186 sits alongside the enginehouse at the railroad’s locomotive facility at Bensenville, Illinois, on February 7, 1987.
Several Santa Fe locomotives rest briefly at the railroad’s Corwith Yard southwest of downtown Chicago on August 30, 1986. Left to right is EMD SD45 No. 5401 dressed in “Kodachrome” SPSF merger paint, the 100-story John Hancock Center, a quartet of EMD Geeps led by GP7u No. 2013, and finally, the 108-story Sears Tower looming over EMD GP40X No. 3801.
Chicago & North Western EMD SD40-2 No. 6839 and Belt Railway of Chicago EMD GP7 No. 477 sit in the morning sun at C&NW’s Proviso Yard locomotive facility on February 9, 1992.
A trio of former Milwaukee Road EMD GP20s, now owned by Chicago Central & Pacific, depart the CC’s locomotive facility at Hawthorne Yard at Cicero, Illinois, on November 22, 1986. These EMD GP9s are now 2,000 h.p., rebuilt by Milwaukee and classified as GP20s. No. 972 is patched and relettered for CC, while No. 981 and 973 still retain (mostly) Milwaukee Road lettering.
Surrounded by AC technology and 4,000 h.p. locomotives in the Alliance, Nebraska, Diesel Shop, 1959-built SD9 No. 6115 gets a well-deserved rest for some work on July 21, 2003. The spiffy-looking high-hood Phase IV SD9 was former Colorado & Southern No. 832 and BN No. 6227—repainted into its Heritage I livery by OmniTrax in the summer of 2000.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe locomotives idle around the railroad’s engine facility at the sprawling yard at Alliance, Nebraska, near sunset on July 21, 2003.
As exhaust rises into the illumination of a light tower, Rio Grande EMD SD40T-2 No. 5371 rests next to the venerable sand tower at Helper, Utah, on the night of October 23, 2007. By this autumnal date in 2007, the aging Tunnel Motor was the last Denver & Rio Grande Western locomotive on the Union Pacific system in its original unpatched paint and road number.
Seaboard System EMD SD40-2 No. 8204 rests with several Soo Line and CP Rail SD40/SD40-2s at Soo’s former Milwaukee Road locomotive facility at Bensenville, Illinois, on September 13, 1987.
Milwaukee Road, Soo Line and Helm Leasing locomotives sit alongside the enginehouse at Soo Line’s Bensenville Yard locomotive facility, in Bensenville, Illinois, on September 13, 1987. Behind Milwaukee Road EMD SD40-2 No. 174 is Soo Line No. 6361 in “bandit” colors, a former Milwaukee unit in the road’s final paint scheme. Patched Milwaukee power on the Soo was not particularly attractive or well done (I’m being nice…), as readily seen on No. 6361. Bensenville was an easy place to photograph Milwaukee or Soo locomotives without trespassing, as long as you watched out for traffic on Green Street!
Missouri Pacific locomotives line up on the locomotive storage tracks at Yard Center at Dolton, Illinois, on September 15, 1985. MP No. 6052 is a SD40-2 purchased with dynamic brakes for coal service, while No. 3279 is of the same model without dynamics, and on the right is GP15-1 No. 1563.
Missouri Pacific EMD SD40 Nos. 3088 and 3080, along with EMD SD40-2 No. 3134 rest at Yard Center locomotive facility at Dolton, Illinois, on September 15, 1985.
Several Soo Line and Milwaukee Road units rest outside the illuminated enginehouse at the locomotive facility at Bensenville Yard in Bensenville, Illinois, on the night of December 5, 1987.
A gaggle of Kansas City Southern switchers are gathered at Knoche Yard in Kansas City, Missouri, as the crew of KCS SW1500 No. 5344 and slug No. 4255 talk a moment before headin’ home for the day on a raw December 8, 1985, afternoon.
Two M-K-T SW9 switchers sit at the north (west) end of Glen Park Yard on a wintery December 8, 1985. After Union Pacific merged away Katy, this yard was closed (naturally), with everything torn out except tracks serving the Katy Elevator and a cement plant on the east end. Looking back on some of these Katy scenes, shooting in gray weather of a view with plenty of poles and wires goes against what could be considered good photography—but I’m glad I did.
A nice and bright gathering of power is lined up at the locomotive facility at Missouri-Kansas-Texas’ Glen Park Yard in Kansas City, Kansas, and surely brightens up a dreary and cold December 8, 1985. All common EMDs—Nos. 601, 624 and 629 are SD40-2s, while No. 312 is an GP38-2.
It’s a rainy day at Montana Rail Link’s Helena Roundhouse, as MRL Machinist Kevin Leonard takes a call as he reflects on what these new EMD locomotives will mean to his job after changing the filthy air filters on Montana Rail Link SD70ACe Nos. 4305 and 4302 at Helena, Montana, late in the afternoon of October 8, 2005. The the sinuous 2.2 percent grade up Mullan Pass west of Helena, and the long, confining summit tunnel are very hard on locomotives.
In 2009, MRL enlarged the clearances of Mullan Tunnel to ease the situation a bit, but as long as heavy trains continue to climb Mullan Pass, the Helena Roundhouse will always have to care for the well-used helpers that call Helena home. Right? BNSF may try to change status quo, but will likely fail, as years of experience on the mountain have shown. Also likely is a former MRL machinist, now working for BNSF, sitting in this chair looking out the window wondering what will happen at Helena Roundhouse.
The late afternoon sun makes a brief appearance on an otherwise rainy day at Helena, Montana, on October 8, 2005. Two Montana Rail Link machinists at the “roundhouse” talk briefly while maintaining locomotives at the facility at Helena, Montana. Brand-new MRL EMD SD70ACe No. 4300 faces MRL F45 No. 392 in the short period that both locomotives were in service at the same time.
It’s been cloudy and rainy all day in Montana on October 8, 2005, but the sun makes a brief appearance before dropping behind the mountains west of Helena. Montana Rail Link’s Helena Yard locomotive facility lights up against the dark sky to the east. Yard engine MRL EMD GP9 No. 120 waits for a call to duty while the roundhouse mechanical employees service a set of new SD70ACe helper locomotives, including No. 4309 beneath the sand tower.
A string of CSX locomotives rest underneath a relic from a different age on the afternoon of March 19, 1988. This imposing concrete coaling tower that once loaded steam locomotive tenders with fuel, now just looms over CSX EMD GP40-2 No. 6078 at the railroad’s Barr Yard locomotive facility at Riverdale, Illinois.
On November 9, 1992, a pair of Burlington Northern EMD SD60Ms lays over in the Soo Line’s locomotive facility at Portage, Wisconsin, in a view from the cab of Amtrak EMD F40PH No. 357 leading the eastbound Empire Builder into town for a station stop. The BN units are being used as run through power on a unit coal train to the Columbia Power Plant near Portage.